It’s Very Simple: Stop Settling

I love autumn in New England. The air starts to become crisp, and the ground begins to “crunch” as we walk through fallen leaves. The daylight grows shorter, and we’re forced to shed our flip flops and adjust to chillier temperatures in wool sweaters. I thrive in change, but I know not everyone does. Change can be hard until it becomes the new normal. Just as autumn comes gradually, so must any kind of change in our lives, or it can seem jarring.

The same is true for technology in our lives. It just plain takes a while for humans to adjust to a new phone or a new car, or even software. We’re creatures of habit. Yet, therein lies the opportunity.

Let me ask you something: how many of you are using spreadsheets for all of the critical work you do, working outside of the system you are supposed to use because it has not really been configured to meet your needs? Or, if you do have a system that meets most of your needs, are you using a “notes” field for what actually is critical information that needs to be reported on/analyzed in some way? So, here comes the big question: why are you doing that? I know, not many have a good answer for that.

With any software solution, there is generally an 80/20 rule just to start: you can do 80% of what you need to, but there is 20% that you can’t make happen or just plain won’t use (or don’t know how). As time progresses and you have a “legacy” app on your hands (which is generally an on premises installation on a server in your office), it can get much worse. Within a few years, you have a broken “solution.” According to the 2016 1E Software Usage and Waste Report, the typical organization has 1,800 software titles that they manage. In studying a subset of these organizations (149 across 16 industries), they identified that the average organization has a 38% unused software rate, amounting to an average of $7.4 million per business and $247 per user. Pretty steep for organizational waste.

Not only is it time to dump the apps you are not using, it’s also time to evaluate what you really need in your software and start asking for it. With the number of cloud-based software as a solution opportunities (SaaS) being introduced every day, there are economical options out there that will be updated on a more regular basis (sometimes monthly) to improve the user experience based on user feedback. If something you need does not exist, there is an opportunity to build a custom app or integration that connects the dots and enables you to work the way you need to work.

Why do we settle for mediocre technology solutions at work, but go after the latest and best technology in our personal lives? It’s just time: time to reassess and make technology work for us at work. Ditch the applications that you don’t use and ask for the ones that you need.

Are you ready to replace, upgrade or modernize your legacy application? Let’s grab coffee (click here) and talk about your challenges and where you desire to be.

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Dana McInnis

Principal, Business Solutions

Dana has more than 20 years of experience as a business and systems analyst, technical writer and trainer. As Trilix’s head of Business Solutions, Dana ensures that all client engagements begin by focusing on “true” business needs and getting to the core of business problems quickly. She is a Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) and Six Sigma Greenbelt.